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March 28, 2022 - Over the week of March 21 to March 27 the Joaquin Volunteer Fire Department responded to two calls.
The first call came in on Thursday March 24 at 4:53pm. The Joaquin VFD received a dispatch of a pasture on fire on FM 139 near County Road 3565. Upon arriving on scene it was discovered that the fire was a control burn being monitored by the landowner. Before leaving the JVFD used a brush truck to wet down the edges of the fire to prevent any further spreading.
The next call came in on Sunday, March 27 at 7pm. It was dispatched as electrical wires on fire at the intersection of Highway 84 East and Preston Street. Responding units found a short stretch of power lines on fire due to a tree branch that had fallen on top of them. The Deep East Texas Electric Co-op had been notified and would have to arrive to cut the power before it could be put out. Once the power had been cut the JVFD extinguished the fire with a quick douse of water.
Fortunately, these calls were fairly mild and no one was harmed during either call. Nonetheless, the Joaquin Volunteer Fire Department wishes everyone a safe and fire-free week.
March 28, 2022 - As of 2:30am, power has been restored to many locations.
March 28, 2022 - Center Police Officers are investigating a crash that occurred sometime after 12-midnight March 28, 2022.
The vehicle appears to have been traveling westbound on Nacogdoches Street in Center when it first collided with a utility pole at the intersection with Wheeler Avenue, leaving the pole across the intersection.
After the initial collision, it appeared the vehicle continued at great speed colliding with yet another utility pole, and continuing into a yard beside a brick house at the corner of Nacogdoches Street and Sandel Street. There it appeared the vehicle became entangled in a guy wire beside another utility pole, which was snapped near its top during the incident.
Center Police Officers located the driver on the city square after abandoning the crash scene.
The Center Fire Department is assisting with traffic control and drivers are being redirected until the damage has been repaired. There is no reported restoration time as of 1:35am.
Resulting outages from the crash are known to have occurred on San Augustine Street, Shelbyville Street, Nacogdoches Street and Field Street.
Additional details will be updated as they’re made available.
March 24, 2022 - Hurst Street in Center was the scene of a three-vehicle crash Wednesday, March 23, 2022, in the vicinity of the Nacogdoches Street intersection.
While Center Police Department personnel assisted those involved and investigated the crash, Center Fire Department and Shelby County Sheriff's Department deputies assisted with traffic control.
According to Center Police Officer Brian Wright, at just before 2pm a grey 2017 Toyota Tundra driven by Shelby Holt, 26, of Joaquin with passenger Wendy Holt, 47, was exiting Brookshire Brothers parking lot attempting to turn left onto Hurst Street.
At that time a grey 2021 Dodge Durango driven by Mindy Chavez, 39, of Center was traveling northbound in the inside lane of Hurst Street when the Tundra failed to yield right of way to the Durango and struck the Durango in the right passenger side.
Subsequently, the Dodge continued forward motion into the southbound inside traffic lane where a white 2021 Ford F-250 driven by Lonnie Burns, 60, of Woodward, Ok. was unable to avoid colliding with the Durango and struck it on the front right quarter panel. Both vehicles came to rest in the outside southbound traffic lane.
Chavez was transported from the scene by ambulance to Nacogdoches Medical Center - Shelby Emergency Department for medical evaluation.
No citations were issued at the time of the crash.
March 24, 2022 - As a mark of respect for former Secretary of State Madeleine Korbel Albright and her life of service to our Nation, the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff until sunset on March 27, 2022.
March 24, 2022 - Officials with the National Forests and Grasslands in Texas, Angelina & Sabine National Forests, have advised 2 prescribed burn today location:
Sabine N. F. – Compartments 75, Located at the Milam Office, east of Milam Community, 898 acres, Block A & B, with Helicopter support. Winds are predicted from the west at 6-14 MPH.
Angelina N. F. – Compartment 78, Located near Ebenezer Park, west of TX-255, 430 acres, Blocks C & D only, Hand ignitions. Winds are predicted from the west at 6-14 MPH
Please drive with caution. Also, we advised long range drift SMOKE may affect some of the areas.
March 23, 2022 - The Commissioners approved Jimmy Lout, Commissioner Precinct 2, to close a part of CR 2794, which will be replaced by a property owner providing land for a new stretch of roadway at Old English Marina.
"A lady and her husband bought the old marina and the road comes right down beside their property," said Lout.
The roadway makes a large curve and the property owners are planning to build a house. Additionally, they purchased another four acres and would like to provide the new access with a 40-foot right of way.
"[They're] going to put a fence on each side and donate the land right of way for probably about 200 yards," said Lout.
The property owners will apply gravel, and Lout said that would be at no cost to the county, while also taking two very sharp curves out of the roadway.
Stevie Smith, Commissioner Precinct 3, confirmed with Lout the roadway would not close until the replacement roadway reaches completion.
Lout said the new road would intersect at County Roads 2793 and 2700.
A motion carried by the commissioners to approve repositioning CR 2794, and once the project is completed by the landowner the county can resume maintenance on the roadway.
Before moving forward with the installation if fiber optic equipment at the County Clerk's office Ann Blackwell, County Treasurer, sought approval from the court.
"[Tracy Collins] and I both estimate the bill will probably be between $500 and $600 a month," said Blackwell.
She explained it would remove the long-distance bill from the County Clerk's office and other services that won't be necessary any longer. She expects the bill to be $300 more to the County Clerk phone bill budget.
"We have U-verse, it's very slow and we have a lot of outages that affected us on the last day of early voting," said Jennifer Fountain, County Clerk. "It affects the elections, it effects issuing birth certificates, [processing] credit cards."
Blackwell said she believed fiber to the courthouse has only been down twice in the last five years. The fiber optic is expected to be installed within a few weeks.
A motion carried to get the fiber optic installed in the County Clerk's office.
The meeting then adjourned at 9:51am. Agenda items approved during the meeting include: 1. Minutes of February 2, 2022 Special meeting, February 9, 2022 Regular meeting, February 9, 2022 Grant Workshop, February 16, 2022 Special meeting of the Shelby County Commissioner’s Court. 2. Pay weekly expenses. 3. Officers reports from Ann Blackwell, County Treasurer. 4. Commissioner Pct. 2 to close a portion of CR 2794. 5. Record Racial Profiling Report for the Shelby County Constable Pct 4. 6. Run fiberoptic internet lines to the County Clerk’s office. 7. Adjourn at 9:51am.
March 23, 2022 - The intersection of Tenaha Street and Cass-Caid Drive was the scene of a three-vehicle crash Wednesday, March 16, 2022.
According to Center Police Officer Jerry Payne, at 8:50pm a white Jeep SUV driven by Leslie Ortega, 30, of Center was traveling northbound with passenger Victoria Ortega, 31, on Tenaha Street when she stopped to make a left turn onto Cass-Caid Drive.
At that time a white Dodge Ram pickup truck driven by Rafael Soto, 36, of Bronson was northbound on Tenaha Street when it failed to control speed and struck the Jeep in the rear, spinning it into the southbound lane where a blue Nissan driven by Hillary Ihlo, 29, of Center was traveling south and was unable to avoid impacting with the Jeep, striking it once again in the rear.
The Dodge came to rest in the shoulder of the northboud lane while the Jeep and the Nissan remained in the southbound lane blocking traffic.
A 5-year-old male passenger from the Jeep was transported by ambulance to Nacogdoches Medical Center - Shelby Emergency Department for medical evaluation, as was Soto.
Neither of the Ortega's or a 9-year-old female passenger from that vehicle were reported to have received injury. Ihlo was also not reported to have been injured. All vehicles were towed from the scene.
No citations were issued at the time of the incident.
March 23, 2022 - Tom Bellmyer, Commissioner Precinct 4, reports all roadways which were closed due to weather conditions have reopened except for County Road 4760 in Weaver bottom at the end of FM 1970 South in the Attoyac River bottom.
Updated 6:05pm: CR 4323, Risinger Creek and Flat Fork Creek, is closed due to flooding at the three bridges bottom. (Reopen)
Updated 2:27pm: CR 4777 has reopened to traffic.
March 22, 2022 - Tom Bellmyer, Commissioner Precinct 4, reports the closure of roadways in his precinct due to weather conditions. County Road 4777 is closed at the intersection with County Road 4775.
Also, County Road 4760 in Weaver bottom at the end of FM 1970 South in the Attoyac River bottom is closed.
These roadways are closed until further notice. Drivers are encouraged to make safe decisions and if they must travel to choose alternate roadways.
March 23, 2022 - The Shelby County Commissioners held a lengthy meeting Wednesday, March 2, 2022, addressing multiple issues important to the county of which a Hazard Mitigation Plan was a leading concern.
A Hazard Mitigation Plan is something necessary for the county to have in place and should be updated every five years per FEMA regulation. Not having a plan in place would make the county ineligible for certain grant programs such as flood mitigation assistance, hazard mitigation grant program and pre-disaster mitigation competitive.
"After speaking with GrantWorks and doing some research, if we go through the grant process it's gonna take us about two years or more, and it's going to cost over $100,000 and of course we'll have 25% of that," said Shelby County Judge Allison Harbison.
Judge Harbison explained the county needs to move more quickly than that and she said GrantWorks has presented a contract and quote for $49,950 to complete the project. She stated it would likely be $15,000 to $20,000 more than the grant route. If the county takes the grant route, she said it's likely to take twice as long to get the plan in place.
GrantWorks is investigating the possibility of using American Rescue Plan Act funds to afford the expense of the Hazard Mitigation Plan Project; however, in the interim and with time being a factor Judge Harbison suggested moving forward quickly and possibly paying out of the County Contingency fund account.
Tom Bellmyer, Commissioner Precinct 4, confirmed with Luciana Barr, Emergency Management Coordinator, the previous plan went out in June 2021.
Roscoe McSwain asked Keith Payne, a GrantWorks representative, how long the process could be expected to take.
"If you were to go the grant route, it's over two years," said Payne. "If you hire to write the plan, its at least cut that time in half. If you go the application route, the application has to be submitted to the GLO for review, it goes to the department of TDEM and then finally to FEMA and that process is usually over a year,"
McSwain indicated the issue the county and cities in Shelby County are facing without the Hazard Mitigation plan in place, "so if we have a disaster in the next year, we're not going to qualify for grants." Commissioner Bellmyer agreed that was correct.
Payne described a Hazard Mitigation department within GrantWorks that will be working on the plan for Shelby County.
A motion carried to move forward with the Hazard Mitigation Project and seek legal counsel to review the contract.
Commissioner Bellmyer mentioned several county buildings in the area he would like to see the county continue to move toward working on them including the Adult Probation Building; attention needed to the old County Clerk's building; and the old elementary school gym that is now being utilized by AgriLife and needs air conditioning.
The commissioners ranked and approved moving forward with a list of projects using the American Relief Plan Act of 2021.
The initial projects included jail plumbing repairs; Huber water drilling; the jail roof; communications towers; City of Center project broadband communications; assistance to non-profit; covid testing; courthouse security; and a generator for the courthouse.
"The communication towers is something I really want to get going, especially starting with the one in Joaquin to begin with because that's where the biggest drop off is," said Judge Harbison.
She said she would like to see the Joaquin tower be installed first and then look at where would be most beneficial after that to help strengthen the radio signal.
In discussion over items already on the list Ann Blackwell, County Treasurer, remarked confirmed the county had around 600 tests for Covid-19.
The need for fiber optic cable service through AT&T at the County Clerk's office was discussed and Judge Harbison described the need. During election time, the county clerk has to upload results to the state website.
"Friday she had no U-verse, so she had to work [in the courthouse] in my office, which is fine, but she has to bring all that stuff over here," said Judge Harbison.
Jennifer Fountain, County Clerk, agreed she was at the courthouse working until 10pm using the courthouse internet. The County Clerk's office has U-verse, and the courthouse has fiber. Judge Harbison encouraged the need to get fiber to the County Clerk's office.
"A lot of time I either, if we can't catch somebody [at the courthouse] I've had to haul 20 tablets to my house before to try to update them, which at my house I have cable," said Fountain.
Fountain explained the fiber is so much faster than the cable internet at her house. According to Fountain, when the County Clerk's office internet is down they cannot process birth certificates, or credit cards, which halts a lot of business through her office.
Bellmyer confirmed the District Attorney's office has fiber and the County Clerk's office isn't very far from the District attorney's office. Blackwell expected the bill for the fiber to be around $500 a month.
It was explained the internet being down has an effect on the ability of outside access to records, and Fountain stated 90% of the issuance of birth certificates is accomplished online. She also said there has been a little bit of an increase of "land men" accessing records through the internet.
As discussion continued about items on the list, Judge Harbison said she would actually like to see other generators considered for the list for the District Attorney's office and the County Clerk's office in addition to the courthouse generator.
"A generator for your command center is not an option, it is a requirement," said Bellmyer.
Judge Harbison agreed that's why the county doesn't have a command center.
With the completion of the plumbing project on the first side of the Shelby County Jail Roscoe McSwain, Commissioner Precinct 1, was enthusiastic about moving forward with the other side of the jail and reaching completion of the total project.
Sheriff Kevin Windham was very pleased with the process of the plumbing project and stated they are very pleased with the result for the money.
"They could have went in there and tore everything out like had initially been discussed and they saved the county hundreds of thousands of dollars," said Windham. "I really appreciated them for looking out for us."
Bellmyer recollected previous discussion at a previous meeting about the potential to upgrade voting equipment. Fountain said she had spoken with someone at the Secretary of State office and they weren't sure the funds from the American Relief Plan Act could be used for that purpose.
"We have a little bit of time, but we have a presidential election coming up in two years, and of course we've got mid-terms, I think that we can't make the mid-terms this year but we need to look over the horizon if we need to upgrade our voting equipment," said Bellmyer. "We need to take advantage of it now."
McSwain said he would like it in writing if the Secretary of State is saying those funds couldn't be used for the purchase of voting equipment, since the court has been informed they can use those funds for anything beneficial to the tax payers.
"That is definitely a good and service to the citizens," said Bellmyer.
A motion carried to move forward on the Huber Water project; jail roof; communication towers and generators for the courthouse.
There were several FY 2022 Budget line item transfers to be made and Clint Porterfield, County Auditor, described what they were, and he reminded the court the county is already in the sixth month of its budget.
"There are four funds involved here, one is the coronavirus relief fund - Fund 44. We have a budget there that everything is in fixed assets," said Porterfield. "Repairing the jail plumbing, that's not a fixed asset that's a repair, so as we do things like that we're creating expense line items which we now need to move a budget into."
The first line item transfer was for $75,000 for the plumbing repairs. The remainder were three line item transfers for precincts 2, 3, and 4 to clean up some expense accounts that did not have a budget. Porterfield reminded the commissioners for such expenses those funds come out of their gravel accounts.
Porterfield explained the needed funds would be transferred from their gravel accounts to the line items to support those expenses.
Agenda items approved during the meeting include: 1. Pay weekly expenses. 2. Current payroll. 3. Order the May 7, 2022 Constitutional Amendment Election. 4. Move forward with the Hazard Mitigation Plan Project. 5. Move forward with Huber Water System project; jail roof; communication towers; generators for the courthouse using the American Relief Plan Act of 2021. 6. Cooperative Agreement between Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and Shelby County. 7. Discontinue the contract with DISA for drug screen compliance. 8. Approve Random Drug Screen Compliance agreement with DATCS. 9. Historic Courthouse venue use contract and payment to go through the County Treasurer's office and scheduling to go through the Historic Courthouse docent. 10. Sale through bids of a Mack Truck for Commissioner Pct 3. 11. Mutual Aid Agreement from Nacogdoches Police Department and numerous surrounding agencies and Shelby County Sheriff’s Office. 12. Plumber to present proposal for remainder of plumbing repairs for the Shelby County Jail. 13. FY 2022 Budget line item transfers. 14. Record Racial Profiling Report for the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office. 15. Record Racial Profiling Report for the Shelby County Constable Pct. 1. 16. Record Racial Profiling Report for the Shelby County Constable Pct. 2. 17. Adjourn at 10:56pm.
March 21, 2022 - The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center, Norman, OK issued at 8:10pm, Monday, March 21, 2022 a Tornado watch 56 in effect until 3pm for the following counties in Texas: Angelina, Bowie, Camp, Cass, Cherokee, Franklin, Gregg, Harrison, Houston, Marion, Montgomery, Morris, Nacogdoches, Panola, Polk, Red River, Rusk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Shelby, Smith, Titus, Trinity, Upshur, Walker, and Wood.
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